People with disabilities excited about self-lacing shoes

The cool kicks Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future Part II are now a reality, thanks to Nike.

The self-lacing shoes are getting a lot of attention. There are only 89 pairs of the Nike MAG up for grabs through an online drawing that goes until Oct. 11. Tickets are $10 and can be bought at nike.com/mag. All the proceeds will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation in an effort to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

But come Nov. 28, a more mass produced version is expected to hit the market, the Hyper Adapt 1.0.

For Dean Westwood and others who are physically disabled, the technology means a lot.

“The ability to wear a shoe like that would actually sense your foot is mindboggling. It really is quite exciting,” he said.

Westwood is a quadriplegic.

“I broke my neck in a diving accident. So I went from a three-sport athlete one minute to someone who couldn't even move their head the next minute,” said Westwood.

“Nothing short of a nightmare, a nightmare you can't wake up from,” he said.

He's had to rely on others and his service dog Badgett. Westwood said the technology means more independence.

“Just those little victories for people with physical disabilities of being able to get their shoes on independently and having the choice to do it independently is huge. It can't be dismissed,” he said.

Disability advocates are also excited about the technology.

“It helps their families too and their friends who don't have to do things for someone else,” said Bob Joondeph, the Executive Director of Disability Rights Oregon.

“The opportunity to maybe acquire a pair of these shoes and be able to use them independently and also kind of have that fly new pair of shoes that are function for me, it's emotional,” said Westwood.

Westwood will keep relying on those around him and his buddy Badgett for help.

But he's hoping to someday, own a pair of his own self-tying shoes.

Westwood also hopes the technology explodes and other items are developed that might help folks with physical disabilities.